It is often said that education is the bedrock of an individual’s or societal growth and development. An uneducated society is where ineptitude and mediocrity, their negative effects such as inefficiency, low level of development and corruption thrive.
Little wonder that the most industrialized or developed nations in the world today have very high literacy level among their citizens and such nations devote huge sums of money yearly to the development of education.
This much cannot be said of what obtains in Nigeria, as the government does the direct opposite, where very little or no attention is given to the educational development of the citizenry. Scant attention is given to tertiary education by successive governments in the country and this has impacted negatively on the society. With the cost of tertiary education ever rising due to this neglect, the problems experienced by society as a result have continued to increase.
Eight years ago, it took, on average, less than N15,000 to pay one’s way through a course of study of four years in a university, and even less in polytechnics or colleges of education. This amount includes tuition and accommodation fees and other faculty and departmental charges. These days, N15,000 cannot even cover the tuition fee for a year of study in any university or polytechnic.
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Added to this is the high cost of books and other educational materials needed. Students can hardly buy the needed textbooks as a textbook might go for as high as N10,000. Recently, students in some universities protested the astronomical increase in their accommodation fees, yet these increases persisted.
To run a master’s programme in universities these days, a lot of money is needed. Some master’s courses go for as high as N300.000 or more.
A major setback of the rising cost of tertiary education in Nigeria is that it increases the illiteracy level in the society. As more and more people find it difficult to pay exorbitant school fees and buy costly books, there has been an increase in the rate of dropouts from these schools.
The rising cost of tertiary education in the country has also greatly affected the quality of teaching and learning in these schools. This high cost of financing tertiary education has led to both teachers and learners cutting corners.
Government must check the indiscriminate and arbitrary fee increases in institutions of higher learning. This will help reduce the burden on students and parents. The government must remove school fees and other charges from tertiary institutions. If that is not possible government should subsidize such fees to make them affordable. Also, local and state governments should give as many scholarship offers as possible to their promising indigenes.
The government should also devote enough fund in the yearly budget to the improvement of infrastructure in tertiary institutions. If adequate and well-equipped libraries and laboratories are provided in these institutions the financial burden on the students in the area of purchase of books and needed tools will be reduced.
Abdullahi Adamu wrote via [email protected]
